Poland’s president pays his respects
Mayor and council leader join visit to garden
POLAND’S president visited Ruislip last week to pay his respects at a newly-opened remembrance garden.
President Andrzej Duda and the first Lady, Agata Kornhauser, were welcomed by Hillingdon Council leader, Ray Puddifoot and the Mayor of Hillingdon, George Cooper.
He visited on September 14 to see the newly-opened Polish War Memorial Remembrance Garden and lay a wreath to commemorate the service of the Polish Air Force during the Battle of Britain.
Mr Puddifoot said: “It was both an honour and a pleasure to show the president the Remembrance Garden, described by the Polish Ambassador as an ‘unprecedented gesture on the part of the British towards the Polish community’.
“September 15 is now widely recognised as the Battle of Britain but what is not generally known, is that on that day in 1940, one in five of the pilots in the air defending the South of England was Polish.”
The remembrance garden was officially opened 10 days ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
It saw representatives from Hillingdon Council, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, the Polish Air Force Memorial Committee and RAF Northolt stand together proudly.
Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheim planes carried out a flypast on Tuesday last week across London and the south of England, ending their flight at RAF Northolt.